Luxury Sahara Desert Tour from Marrakech — 5 Days

English / French / Spanish Meet with guide 5 days

Marrakech, Morocco (88 Reviews)

5-day Marrakech to Merzouga Sahara desert expedition

Overview

This luxury Sahara desert tour from Marrakech is a 5-day, 4-night Marrakech to Sahara desert tour. We explore the best of the High Atlas Mountains and the Erg Chebbi dunes with local camel guides, with overnight stays in a Moroccan Sahara camp.

Highlights

Tizi n'Tichka and Aït Benhaddou Dades Valley, Todra Gorges and Jorf Merzouga desert excursion Merzouga camel ride in the desert Private driver-guide

Day-by-day itinerary

Day 1

Marrakech, Tizi n'Tichka, Aït Benhaddou, Ouarzazate and Dades Gorges

Explore the Sahara on a tour from Marrakech with Local Morocco Tours, your private desert tour company. We collect you from your hotel and drive over the Tizi n'Tichka pass in the Atlas Mountains, visiting scenic Berber villages along the way. We then explore the Aït Benhaddou kasbah with a local guide — a UNESCO World Heritage Site visited on our Sahara tours from Marrakech. After visiting the film studios in Ouarzazate and Skoura, we drive on to the Valley of Roses and the Dades Valley, where you spend the night in a kasbah with dinner included.

Day 2

Dades Valley, Todra Gorges, Jorf, Erfoud and Merzouga

After breakfast, we tour the Dades Gorges, including the striking rock formation often called "the monkey toes." We then drive to Tinghir, where you can explore the Todra Valley, well known for its dramatic granite canyons. We continue through several Berber villages on our way to Tinjdad, Jorf and Erfoud. On arrival in Merzouga, the Saharan dunes will take your breath away. Overnight in a hotel near the desert, with breakfast and dinner included.

Day 3

Merzouga desert excursion and camel ride

Today is the highlight of our 5-day journey from Marrakech to the Sahara, with a full day exploring the Erg Chebbi dunes with Local Morocco Tours. We spend time with a nomad family in the desert, listen to Gnawa music in Khamlia and visit the Nomad Museum in Hassi Labied. After lunch, we continue our Sahara tour with more desert sights. In the late afternoon, you take a camel ride of about an hour and a half to your desert camp, where we watch the sunset. After dinner, you enjoy traditional Berber music before spending the night in a Sahara desert tent.

Day 4

Merzouga camel ride, Agdz and overnight in Ouarzazate

Today we rise early to watch the sunrise. After breakfast, you ride the camels back to the village while we drive to Rissani to explore the local souk. We then visit the Alnif trilobite centre before continuing to N'kob and through the Draa Valley to Ouarzazate, where you have dinner and spend the night in a charming kasbah or hotel.

Day 5

Ouarzazate, Atlas Mountains and return to Marrakech

On the final day of our 5-day Marrakech-to-Merzouga Sahara tour, we visit the Taourirt Kasbah, then tour the High Atlas Mountains and the Berber villages of Telouet and the Kasbah el-Glaoui. We then drive back over the Tizi n'Tichka pass to Marrakech, where the journey ends. At Local Morocco Tours, we will do everything we can to tailor a holiday in Morocco that is perfect for you, your family, your friends or your group.

What's included

Transfers from/to the airport/hotels
Private transportation in a spacious, air-conditioned vehicle
Experienced local tour guide
All dinners and breakfasts
Overnight stays in hotels, riads and desert camp
Desert guide and camel trek

Not included

Lunches and soft drinks
Admission fees and gratuities

Guide languages

English, Spanish, French, and more languages are available upon request.

Departure

We can leave whenever you choose, although we normally leave at 9 a.m.

Departing from Marrakech

Five days from Marrakech gives you a proper Morocco road trip rather than just a quick dash to the desert. The journey south crosses the High Atlas, visits Ait Benhaddou and Ouarzazate, winds through the Draa Valley with its 40km of palm groves and ancient ksars, and arrives at Merzouga with plenty of time to settle in before the sunset camel trek. Two nights in the Sahara means a sunrise and a sunset in the dunes, plus a morning to explore the oasis villages around Erg Chebbi.

On the return, the five-day itinerary routes via the Dades Valley and Todra Gorge — 300m limestone walls that narrow to 10m at the bottom, with a cold river running between them. This is a stop that shorter tours skip due to time, but on a five-day itinerary there is no reason to rush past one of Morocco’s most dramatic natural features. Lunch in a gorge-side restaurant and a 45-minute walk through the narrows is included.

Your private driver-guide manages all navigation, accommodation check-ins and itinerary adjustments throughout. Hotel pick-up and drop-off in Marrakech included. Request a quote to book your preferred dates.